After their failed attempt at rescuing Roxi, Luke moped around the cottage, finding excuses to be alone. Maggie was the only who sought him out, her presence being the only thing that ever seemed to sooth him when he felt down.
“Luke? Do you mind if I join you?” Maggie asked from the entrance of his Mithraeum.
“Please,” he replied without looking up.
Maggie sat next to him and slid her hand into his. “I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
“I almost had her.”
“I know. It’s hard when you haven’t been able to do anything then suddenly have an opportunity. She’s close, Luke. You’ll find her soon.”
“I just hope it’s not too late.” He leaned over, resting his head against Maggie’s head.
“I don’t want this to sound glib, but it sounds like she’s nearly impossible to kill, if what Sam said is true.”
“I doubt a handful of vampires can best her, but if they’re hunting in force, they could overwhelm her. It could be even worse if the entity finds her. I just wish…” He paused. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Wishing rarely solves anything.”
“No, it rarely does. You know you don’t have to isolate when you’re feeling grumpy or angry, right? We’re your friends, and we love you, even when you’re feeling upset.” She leaned into him, rubbing his thigh.
“I guess.” He sighed. “No, I know you’re right. We should go back in. It’s not exactly warm in here.”
“No. It’s a bit chilly. Oh! I brought your phone out. It was vibrating a lot.” She reached inside her pocket and pulled it out.
“There’s no reception here. One of the reasons I was out here, but I can’t let my moping endanger all we’ve worked for.” Standing up, he offered a hand and helped Maggie to her feet.
When they emerged into the light of the outside world, they dashed across the yard to the house. A cold driving rain had settled in.
“I’m going to head up to the room and change.” Maggie shivered.
“I’ll join you. I’m in a bad enough mood without also being cold and damp.”
Once he dressed in dry, warm clothes, he sat down to look at his messages. He had several from Mathis wondering where he’d gone.
“Shit, I forgot to message him after we left Antwerp. Maggie, I’m going to make a phone call.”
“OK,” Maggie called from the bathroom. “I’ll be quiet.”
Holding his breath, Luke dialed Mathis, dreading what the smarmy bastard would say.
“Hello, your Excellency, have I done something to offend you?”
“I’m sorry?” His dread quickly dissipated, replaced by angry annoyance.
“You didn’t show up to the meeting I worked so hard to get for you, nor did you let me know you’d be missing it.”
“My apologies, Mathis. A fairly large emergency cropped up, and I had to depart Antwerp in a hurry. In all the chaos, I forgot to message you and make my apologies. I do appreciate the effort you’ve put in to introducing me to Mr. van den Bergh.” He hated having to grovel before Mathis, but he was too valuable, and they’d put too much work into cultivating the connection. Reminding himself that Mathis’s fate was sealed, he calmed himself, letting pettiness settle his mood. “Believe me, your efforts won’t go unrewarded.”
“Well… I’ll have to see if I can smooth things over with Jan. He may be temperamental, but he’s a sharp businessman. He’ll put his bank accounts over his pride.”
Luke restrained a snort. Indeed, Jan would definitely be interested in finding new funds since Luke and his friends were busy draining the Flanders Pack’s accounts. “Let me put it this way, my friend, if you can smooth things over with Jan, I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Fortunately for you, Jan trusts me.” Mathis practically purred. “I’m sure I can make things right with him on your behalf.”
“Again, I must say I’m fortunate to have met you. If you can salvage this meeting, I’ll be most generous with my thanks.”
“Just leave it to me, Your Excellency.”
Luke, a smirk on his face, turned around and nearly dropped his phone. As it was, he barely contained his gasp of surprise. Maggie leaned against the wall, her arms folded under her breasts as she stood naked, one eyebrow quirked up.
“Mathis, I know you’ll do your best, but I need to head to my next meeting. Emergencies are rarely solved quickly.”
“I understand, Your Excellency. Good luck.” Mathis hung up.
Luke tossed his phone onto a side table. “I thought you said you wanted to put some warm clothes on.”
“The bed is quite warm, and I think we can find something to do to heat them up.” Pushing herself off the wall, she strode to the bed slowly, popping her hips seductively.
Luke peeled his clothes off and slid into bed next to her, then pulled her in close, the warmth of her body drawing a groan of pleasure before she stopped his mouth with her lips.
* * *
“LUCIUS!”
Luke jolted awake, sweating and panting. “Wh…what?”
“My apologies for startling you, my brave soldier, but I couldn’t get through to you.” Selene, normally serene, spoke hastily. “You must wake and alert your friends. Roxi is in danger. Our enemies close in on her and she flags. You must hurry if you are to save her.”
That rocked him to immediate alertness. “Can you keep an eye on her while I get everyone moving?”
Maggie stirred at the sound of Luke’s voice. He’d forgotten to speak in his mind.
“Of course. Reach out and I’ll guide you to her. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to protect her. My moon is not full yet, but it is strong.” Selene’s presence disappeared.
“Luke?” Maggie said groggily. “What’s going on?”
“Selene has found Roxi again. I have to go.”
Maggie reached out and squeezed his hand. “Go. I’ll ready the medical facility and wake up my staff.”
“Thank you.” Luke stroked Maggie’s cheek then bent over and kissed her.
“Oh, and don’t forget to put on your other face.”
After a final hug, he swung his feet out of bed and dressed. Before the door clicked shut, Luke was already down the stairs, pounding on doors, calling his people to arms. While he waited for them to assemble, he used the restroom quickly, put on a new face, and grabbed some pre-prepared snacks, laying them out for people to snag on the go. The prep work his caretaker and his people had put in paid off as everyone was on the road within fifteen minutes, armed and ready for action.
Stifling a yawn, Sam rubbed sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on, Luke? You going to tell us what we’re doing?”
“Selene found Roxi. She’s nearby and in danger—vampires,” was Luke’s curt answer.
“What? Where? How?” Sam asked.
“Who, wh—” Pablo joked.
Interrupting, Sam put up her hand and made the close your mouth gesture. “Not now, Pablo.”
“I’m still getting instructions… Hold on.” Luke concentrated on the road, Selene feeding images into his head. “OK, she got the location. Put Château de Franchimont into the maps app and get me the fastest route, then pass the instructions down the line. We’re going in hot and fast. I don’t care about total elimination, we need to get Roxi out.”
Delilah cleared her throat after yawning. “If she’s this close to our base of operations, we’re going to need to be thorough if we don’t want our location sniffed out. It might be best to designate an evacuation team to take her out of the hot zone and let the rest of us clean up.”
“She’s right,” Sam said. “Can Selene do anything to protect her while we fight through whatever’s waiting for us?”
Luke nodded. “She’s doing what she can.” He took a few calming breaths. “You’re right, Delilah. You set up the evac vehicle and team and whatever plans you think prudent. I need to concentrate on getting us there safely.”
“You probably should have let one of us drive, buddy.” Pablo squeezed Luke’s shoulder.
“Yeah, probably. It’s just I need to be moving, and I’m not thinking clearly right now. It’s…” He trailed off.
“It’s Roxi. We understand, Luke. Let us take care of the details, you just get us there and then we’ll bring her home.” Sam reached over from the passenger seat and patted his arm.
With the location fed into the GPS, Luke pushed the gas pedal down, using the BMW’s power and handling to navigate the windy roads as their caravan motored through Wallonia. When he noticed too much distance opening up between their car and those following, he slowed to let them catch up. He needed everyone there to make this rescue work.
“On second thought. I want Charlie behind the wheel of my car. It’ll be the evac vehicle. Charlie knows it, and he can get away fast. It’s the best car we have,” Luke ordered.
“Got it,” Delilah replied.
“Luke, looks like this castle is in the middle of a small village. Do we leave the guns in the car?” Sam asked.
“How ‘in the middle’?”
Sam zoomed in and out on the map on her phone. “It’s on a hill overlooking the village, but the drive up to it is isolated from the rest, but still…”
“We’re a ways from any bigger towns. We’ll risk it. Probably no cops in the area. Speed and power are probably going to be better than stealth, but we can reassess when we get there in”—he looked at the GPS on the console—“in forty-five minutes.”
He wanted to growl or curse or mash the gas pedal and drive like a race car driver, but he kept his frustration bottled inside—it wouldn’t make things go faster and it would distract him when he needed his concentration most. As soon as they hit the E25, they were able to accelerate, flying through the night. The driving beat of Royal Blood’s “Hold On” focused Luke as they drew ever closer to their destination—to Roxi.
As they curved north of Liege, Luke flashed back to nearly three and a half years ago when he’d met Jan and his father, rescuing Amiata and Olivia Adelisa from The Mistress and her Liege mansion. Now he was back, although the castle ruins they were headed to now were south of Liege and it was his… What was Roxi to him? They weren’t dating, but he had feelings for her. Intense feelings, if he wasn’t trying to deny it to himself.
He sighed. He could sort that out after they’d gotten her to safety, and he talked Mithras into saving her.
“Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll get her out of there and back to the cottage.” Pablo reached from the back seat and squeezed his shoulder. “We’re all here for you two.”
Sam laid her hand just above his knee and patted his thigh. “We know how much she means to you, Luke.”
Luke nodded, feeling slightly calmer with the backing of his friends. “Thank you.”
As they pulled off the E42, Luke’s anxiety transformed into the hyper awareness that always took over right before he went into battle. He could feel the vampires ahead, the oppressive weight of their numbers laying on him like a dense fog.
“Listen up,” Luke said. “Here’s the tactical situation. We’re going to pull up that driveway to the castle and whip around so we’re pointing in the direction of the exit. We’ll park and unload. Charlie will transfer here, then we’ll move up, leaving a small group to protect our rides. They’ve got the castle surrounded, but Selene has it warded so they can’t cross onto the bridge and get into the castle. She can’t hold it for long. I can’t get any details, but something is pushing against her barrier. We’ll start silent, but let’s not get tricky. Shoot when we need to.”
“Got it,” Sam said. “I’ll pass on the instructions.”
Luke pulled onto Rue du Pré l'Evêque then the lane that led up to the castle’s visitor parking lot. Once he pulled past the last building, he flipped the lights off, crept up the lane until he got as far as he wanted, and pulled a U-turn over the grass strip dividing the lane in and the lane out. Turning the car off, he was out and in the back grabbing his sturdy short sword and his M12 shotgun before everyone else was even unbuckled.
He looked at the sword with disgust, even though it was a fine weapon—especially after Selene’s upgrade from a couple years ago—but it still wasn’t his trusty gladius. Once everyone was in place, he pointed up the road with his sword and jogged toward the castle. As they neared the castle, they could hear shouting and a dull thudding like a battering ram beings slammed into a massive door.
Luke waved everyone to slow down as he crouched forward around the small curve preceding the parking lot. Unfortunately, once they rounded the bend, there were banks on both sides of the lane that would have caused more trouble than reaching the trees was worth. Luke held up his fist, stopping the group. His vampy senses not only tingled, but they bludgeoned him, along with something else he couldn’t quite grasp. He wondered why they didn’t have a lookout. Unless they’d grown so bold, even after Delilah’s brutal campaign of lightning raids, that they didn’t feel the need in the territory they’d wrested from Pieter’s pack two years ago.
He turned to Sam, who was right behind him, and whispered, “No place to sneak. Half take that road to the left and come at them from that side. I’ll go straight down the pipe.”
Sam nodded and relayed the instructions. The short jog had warmed up his muscles. He raised his sword and lowered it, taking off in a hard, ground eating run. He could hear the feet behind him, running after him. When they reached the little road that split off, half the pack ran up the slight incline, disappearing into the trees above the castle.
The first head snapped around, spying Luke and his friends when they were about twenty yards away. Luke, letting a roar escape this throat, tore forward in a supernaturally aided sprint, beheading the first vampire he came across. The one next to it, he rammed the short sword into its chest, letting the silver and Selene’s enchantments provide its final death. The rest of his friends slammed into the vampires, the shock of their assault forcing the fangers to retreat.
Luke’s only goal was the bridge. Across its short span, Roxi hid under the protection of Selene’s grace. The fury on his face drove back any vampire stupid enough to challenge him, though they never made it out of his grasp as he dispatched them with a brutal efficiency—lopping off heads, stabbing through hearts, removing limbs. Where he went, he cut through his ancient enemies like a scythe through grass. Those from the far side of the group who saw him coming turned and fled, choosing to take their chances with the werewolves backing Luke up, some of whom had transformed into their bipedal wolf forms.
Luke was nearly to the bridge when howls, growling, and branches snapping pulled his attention to the woods around the backside of the small castle ruins. The vampires weren’t alone. Their own werewolves burst from the trees, leaping at Luke’s friends. He was so close…
He turned to engage the new comers.
“No! I can’t hold it much longer. Get to Roxi.” Selene shouted into Luke’s mind.
The strain and stress in her voice scared him, pouring cold water down his spine. He looked toward the brutal werewolf fight then back to the bridge.
“Luke! Go! Get her!” Delilah shouted before leaping into the fray, her jian dripping blood.
He turned and dashed toward the bridge, destroying or kicking aside anyone who got in his way. The sound of his feet on the wood of the bridge brought a modicum of relief, the feeling compounded when he slid through Selene’s barrier, her power a caress against his body. Leaping across the warped bars of the gate that’d blocked the entrance, he stood in the open area between the wall and the central castle.
“Roxi!” Luke shouted.
“On the walls. Hurry,” Selene called.
He found the stairs leading up to an area rebuilt for tourists and took them two at a time, flying to the top. He thought he saw movement along the top of the back wall, but a large wooden replica of a medieval crane blocked the view at the other end of the usable walkway.
“Roxi, I’m coming.” Luke dashed along the wall toward the shadow he hoped was Roxi.
The glint of moonlight against steel was his only warning that something was wrong. He skidded to a halt, raising his sword just in time block a sloppy downward slash at his head. Backing up, he parried another attack. One more step backward drew his attacker out of the shadows and into the moonlight, revealing Roxi’s emaciated face. The weight she’d put on in Portland was gone. Her hollow cheeks highlighted the sharpness of her cheeks.
The shock nearly killed him as he almost didn’t get his sword up in time to block the next blow. Only her sloppiness prevented his death.
“Roxi, it’s me. It’s Luke.” He tried to open space between them. Once he was a few strides away, he tried again. “Roxi. Please. I’ve come for you.”
She stalked forward, moving her sword menacingly.
He tried in middle Persian. “Please, Roxiustana. Hear me. I have come to take you home.” He lowered his blade but was ready to bring it up again in a moment if he needed to. “Please, Roxi. I need you.”
Roxi darted forward aiming a thrust at his gut. He swept it aside and backed up.
He could feel the burn of tears in his eyes. “Roxi. I love you. Please don’t do this. I need to get you out of here.”
Something must have gotten through to her addled mind. Her jaw opened slightly, and her brow unfurrowed, her eyes widening. As her head shifted slightly, moonlight fell into her eyes. Confusion warred with understanding in her eyes. His heart in his throat, he wanted to reach out, to touch her. But he was afraid she’d interpret it as an attack. Breathing shallowly, he waited, hope and anguish fighting for dominance in his gut. The last starch left her spine as her body relaxed, her shoulders slumping.
Her sword clanged to the stone of the walkway, and she collapsed. Luke dropped his sword and lunged forward, catching her before she could fall over the edge and plummet down the hill to be dashed against the rocks and trees below.
He cradled her in his arms, tears running down his cheeks. “Oh, Roxi.”
She felt like skin and bones in his arms. Stroking her hair, he whispered soothing words and held her gently against his body, afraid he’d hurt her if he held her too tightly.
“Luke? You don’t look right.”
“I’m here. I’m in a disguise, Roxi.” Picking a small twig from her thatch of wild hair, he cursed himself for not dropping his disguise once he breached Selene’s protection.
“I’m so cold.”
“I’ve got to get you out of here.” Propping her against the wall, he grabbed her Parthian sword and slid it into its scabbard, then he sheathed his own before scooping her up in his arms.
Even with the weight of her armor, she felt too light and frail. He turned, but she wiggled weakly in his arms.
“The rest…of my stuff…” Roxi gasped out.
“Where?” Luke asked.
“Behind…shadows…”
Luke nodded and set her down, stepping over her and into the shadows she’d attacked from. He nearly tripped when his foot tangled in the bag, catching himself along the edge of the wall. He grabbed it and pulled it into the light. It was a large backpack that clanged when he moved it. Guessing it was the rest of her gear, he slung it over his back.
“Is there anything else?” Luke looked around for any intruders.
Selene’s barrier weakened. He could feel it tearing around the edges, feel the goddess’s strain as she struggled to keep it in place.
“No,” Roxi replied.
He picked her up, ensuring her sword was trapped between their bodies so it wouldn’t flop, and settled her in his arms. Wrapping an arm around his neck, she rested her head against his shoulder. Careful so they wouldn’t fall, Luke slowly worked his way along the wall until he found the stairs. He nearly dropped her when he got to the tangled wreck of the gate.
“He’s coming out,” someone yelled.
Luke thought he recognized the voice of Jung-sook.
“Form up on Luke,” Sam shouted, waving toward him.
A wall of Luke’s friends formed at the entrance to the other side of the short bridge, pushing out to clear away any lingering vampires or werewolves. Despite her frailty, Roxi clung to him tightly. He thought he heard wisps of the melody she hummed when she felt the worst. As soon as he crossed the threshold of Selene’s barrier, it disappeared like a rubber band that’d stretched too far and snapped.
“I’m going to make this right, Roxi. I promise,” Luke whispered.
“Luke, do you want someone to carry her so you can fight?” Delilah asked, tucking in next to him.
“No,” Roxi groaned.
Luke shook his head. “I think I’ve got this.”
“Understood. Let’s get you back to the evac vehicle.” Delilah jogged forward to get back to the leading edge.
Once they burst out of the parking lot, part of their crew fell back and wrapped around the back, effectively surrounding Luke and Roxy in a wall of muscles and steel. Luke’s back and legs burned even under the slight weight of Roxi, but he forced his feet forward. He could rest later. At the back of his mind, a dark awareness grew, pushing through his immediate attention to annoyingly draw his mind away from the task at hand like someone flicking his ear.
“Luke…” someone said. “Something’s happening at the castle. Something…bad.”
He stopped and turned. From the remains of the partial central keep, an inky darkness rose into the night, shrouding the stars.
“Selene, what is that?” Luke called to his goddess.
“It’s the entity.” Selene sounded exhausted, as if she’d run a marathon. “It brings reinforcements.”
“Delilah, Sam, we’ve got trouble.” He looked around until he saw a wolf he recognized. “Ahmed, I need you to get Roxi to the Beemer. I’m entrusting her safety to you.”
The hulking wolf nodded and extended his muscular, fur-covered arms.
“No, Luke…” Roxi whimpered.
“Roxi, please. I need to get you out of here and hold off whatever is coming. I’ll see you shortly.” He settled her in Ahmed’s arms. “Ahmed, grab two people to go with you to provide some protection if you need it. When you get back to the cottage, get her to the clinic. Maggie and the medical team will be expecting you.”
Ahmed nodded and let out a yip.
Luke reached out and unbuckled her sword belt, carefully pulling it free. “Roxi, I need to borrow your blade. I’ll return it to you unharmed. Oh.” He remembered her backpack and stripped it off, hooking it on a couple of Ahmed’s claw-capped fingers. “Go, my friend.”
Ahmed turned and sprinted through the crowd toward the Beemer. A couple wolves peeled out from the group and followed him. Once they disappeared into the dark, Luke turned to see more shadows emerging from within the castle and the woods surrounding it. To have kept everything in check at the castle, Selene must have expended huge amounts of effort. He cast a prayer of thanks to her for protecting Roxi until he could get to her. Selene had brought his Roxi back to him, and for that, he owed her far more than a quick thanks on the battlefield. But for now, he had to survive and escape this battlefield.